Focus
JPMorgan and Visa team up, setting the stage for a showdown with SWIFT
(Kitco News) - Two giants in the traditional finance and payments world, JPMorgan and Visa, have announced a new partnership that will focus on streamlining cross-border payments through the use of their private blockchain networks Liink and B2B Connect.
Liink is a network created by JPMorgan that was designed specifically for cross-border transfers. It is offered under the bank’s blockchain and payments initiative Onyx, which provides a platform for institutions to validate transactions and share financial information.
B2B Connect was created by Visa to serve as a cross-border payment product for financial institutions and corporate clients. B2B Connect is also integrated with Onyx's Confirm, which is an account-information validation product that verifies that the information provided by users is correct and valid.
According to Onyx, Confirm is capable of verifying more than 2 billion bank accounts from 3,500 financial institutions. The platform's main focus is to help reduce failed payments, which cost the global economy $188 billion per year. It is estimated that 66% of failed payments are the result of incorrect account information.
B2B Connect has integrated with Confirm to help with the account validation process.
Confirm was launched in pilot mode by JPMorgan in 2021. Recently, the firm signed up Deutsche Bank as a founding member of the product in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
“Confirm’s growth is heavily influenced by network effects,” Alex Littleton, global head of Confirm, said in a statement. “Naming Deutsche Bank as a founding member, while also establishing interconnectivity to Visa B2B’s blockchain, will accelerate our adoption on a global scale.”
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Moving forward, JPMorgan has indicated that it is looking to recruit founding member banks in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (Latam) and North America (NAMR) regions.
The service is expected to be fully operational in 10 countries by the end of 2022 and is projected to increase its presence in more than 30 countries in 2023.
Liink currently has more than 75 global participants operating on the network, which has so far processed over 60 million messages. Once the service is widespread and fully operational, Liink will offer a suitable alternative to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) messaging system for conducting cross-border payments.
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